The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Euphorbia, botanically known as Euphorbia epithymoides and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Bonfire.
The new Euphorbia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lincoln, Rhode Island. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Euphorbia cultivars with red-colored leaves.
The new Euphorbia originated from an open pollination in May, 1999 in Lincoln, Rhode Island, of a unnamed seedling selection of Euphorbia epithymoides, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unknown selection of Euphorbia epithymoides, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Bonfire was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated open pollination during the spring of 2000 in a controlled environment in Lincoln, Rhode Island.
Asexual reproduction of the new Euphorbia by terminal cuttings in a controlled environment in Lincoln, Rhode Island, has shown that the unique features of this new Euphorbia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.